CHAPTER XIX.

CALIFORNIA IN COUNTIES.

1848-1888.

AFFAIRS UNDER THE HISPANO-CALIFORNIANS-COMING OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS-EL DORADO, PLACER, SACRAMENTO, YUBA, AND OTHER COUNTIES NORTH AND SOUTH-THEIR ORIGIN, INDUSTRIES, WEALTH, AND PROG

RESS.

IN Mexican times settlements were almost wholly restricted to the coast valleys south of San Francisco Bay, with a predilection for the orange-perfumed regions of Santa Bárbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Russians had obtained a footing on the coast above Marin, as a branch station for their Alaska fur trading; and the attempt roused the California authorities to place an advance guard in the vicinity, first at San Rafael and its branch mission of Solano, and subsequently at the military post of Sonoma, to affirm their possessory rights. In the forties Anglo-Saxon immigrants, adding their number to the Mexican occupants, extended settlement into the valleys north of the bay. With the conquest population began to gravitate round this sheet of water, as the centre for trade, a sprinkling penetrating into San Joaquin Valley and up the Sacramento. the Sacramento. The effect of Marshall's discovery was to draw the male inhabitants from the coast to the gold region. Many remained in the great California Valley and became traders and townbuilders; some continued to roam along the Sierra slope as gold-diggers.

HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 31

481

The American South Fork, as nearest the point of distribution, at Sacramento, and carrying with it the prestige of the gold discovery, long attracted the widest current of migration. A just tribute to fame was awarded to the saw-mill site at Coloma, the first spot occupied in the county, in 1847, by making it a main station for travel and the county seat for El Dorado, and so remaining until 1857, after which, the mines failing, it declined into a small yet neat horticultural town. The saw-mill, transferred to other hands by Marshall and Sutter, supplied in 1849 the demand for lumber. The first ferry on the fork was conducted here by J. T. Little, a flourishing trader. Little's Stat., MS., 3. And E. T. Rann constructed here the first bridge in the county early in 1850, for $20,000, yielding a return of $250 a day. Pac. News, May 29, 1850. Population 2,000 in Oct. 1850. S. F. Picayune, Oct. 21, 1850; Barstow's Stat., MS., 1-4; Sherman's Mem., i. 64; Placer Times, July 28, 1849; Apr. 29, 1850; Sac. Transcript, Feb., March 14, 1851. View in Pict. Union, Jan. 1, Apr. 1854; S. F. Bulletin, Sept. 9, 1857; Sac. Union, Oct. 20, 1856; Placerville Rep., Feb. 28, 1878. Incorporation act in Cal. Statutes, 1858, 207. Marshall, the gold-finder, gained recognition a while in the adjacent petty Uniontown, first called after him. The early drift of miners tended along Webber Creek toward Placerville, which became the most prominent of El Dorado's towns, its final county seat and centre of traffic. Southward rose Diamond Springs, which strove for the county seat in 1854. It was almost destroyed by fire in Aug. 1856. Loss $500,000, says Alta Cal., Aug. 7, 1856. Lately founded, observes Sac. Transcript, Nov. 29, 1850. Camps, etc., in chapter on mines. Mud Springs, later El Dorado, was incorporated in 1855, Cal. Statues, 1855, 116; 1857, 7; with great flourish, and disincorporated in 1857. Several small towns rose on the divide southward. Above the South Fork sprang up notably Pilot Hill, or Centreville, which claimed the first grange in the state. Then there were Greenwood and Georgetown, both of which aspired at one time to become the county seat. The former was named after the famed mountaineer, though first known as Long Valley, Lewisville, etc. Georgetown, begun by Geo. Ehrenhaft, Ballou's Adven., MS., 22, had in Dec. 1849 a tributary population of 5,000. Alta Cal., Dec. 15, 1849; Cal. Courier, July 12, 1850. It was nearly destroyed by fire in 1856. S. F. Bulletin, July 7, 10, 1856. Latrobe rose on the Placerville R. R. route.

In 1857 an effort was made in vain to form Eureka county from the northern half of El Dorado. Nearly every surviving town in the county owes its beginning to mining, although so large a proportion now depends solely on agriculture and trade. Many had early recourse to these branches for supplying a profitable demand, potatoes being scarce and high. With the decline of mining, however, involving the death of so many camps, the vitality of the larger places declined, and by 1880 less than 11,000 remained of a population which during the fifties exceeded 20,000. But farming, and notably horticulture, stepped in to turn the current into a channel of slow though steady revival, still assisted to some extent by quartz and hydraulic mining. The census of 1880 assigned to the county 542 farms, but an improved acreage of only 69,000, valued at $1,181,000, with $482,000 worth of produce, and $297,000 of live-stock, the total assessment being $2,312,000. Farming

EL DORADO AND PLACER.

483

had its beginning here in 1849-50, when potatoes were first planted by the Hodges brothers, on Greenwood Creek, near Coloma. Grain and general farming engaged the attention, in 1851, of many about in Garden and Greenwood valleys, and around Centreville. By 1855 about 8,000 acres lay enclosed, nearly half being under cultivation; there were 3,000 fruit-trees, and as many vines, 3,000 head of cattle, half as many swine, and some 1,300 horses and mules. Forty saw and one flour mill had been erected, and 5 tanneries, 3 breweries, 15 toll-bridges, all attended by numerous teams for traffic. Scott had a shingle machine in 1847 at Shingle Springs. Several stage lines were running since 1849.

The adjoining county of Placer, created in 1851, chiefly out of Yuba, had a section of purely agricultural land, which was occupied shortly before the conquest by settlers who raised wheat and planted fruit before the gold excitement came to interrupt them. For list of early settlers in this and other parts of central and northern California, I refer to the opening chapter of this volume, and to the preceding volumes, for general progress of settlement before 1848. It is said that a crop of wheat was put in on Bear River by Johnson and Sicard in 1845, and that Chanon helped Sicard to plant fruit-trees the following season. Peaches, almonds, and vines from San José followed in 1848, and later oranges. The peaches brought high prices at the gold-fields. Mendenhall planted Oregon fruit at Illinoistown in 1850. Hist. Placer Co., 239-40. After 1849 several imitators appeared, and in 1852, 679 acres were under cultivation, yielding $20,000 in produce, chiefly barley; there were 3,500 head of stock; one third consisted of hogs. Yet only a small fraction of the population, 10,784 persons, was then engaged in farming, and of $2,000,000 invested capital over two thirds was in mining and one seventh in trade. Of the population, 6,602 were white males, 343 females, 3,019 Chinese, 730 Indians, the rest foreigners. See Cal. Census, 1852, 30–1.

By 1855 there were 143 improved ranchos, after which a rapid increase set in. Good markets were found among the numerous mining camps along the American forks and intervening divides, among which Auburn rose to the county seat and sustained itself as leading town. It occupied a beautiful spot, and later it became a health resort. Mines were opened there in 1848, and it was one of the best sustained of the placers. Population, Oct. 1850, 1,500. S. F. Picayune, Oct. 21, 1850. Was county seat of Sutter before 1851. Suffered severely from fire in 1855, Sac. Union, June 6, 9, Aug. 4–6, 1855, and in 1859 and 1863. Placer Co. Direc., 1861, 7. Incorporated in 1860, and disincorporated 7 years later. Cal. Statutes, 1860, 427; 1867-8, 555. Near by Copeland established one of the earliest ranchos. Dutch Flat was the trading centre of 1849, and in 1860 it polled the largest vote in the county, over 500. Incorporated in 1863, disincorporated three years later. Id., 1863, 255; 1865– 6, 10; Dutch Flat Forum, March 8, 29, 1877 Forest Hill and Iowa Hill long held the lead in the eastern section. They sprang up like magic after the gold development of 1853, Id., 43, and overshadowed Elizabethtown and Wisconsin Hill, as Forest Hill did Sarahsville or Bath, assisted by its cement deposits. Illinoistown, first called Alder Grove or Upper Corral, and Yankee Jim's were prominent in early days, owing to their rich diggings. The latter was named after Jim Goodland, says Ballou's Advent., MS., 22, though the

Placer Directory, 1861, 12-13, gives the honor to the Sydneyite Jim Robinson, who was hanged for horse-stealing in 1852. The place suffered severely from fire in 1852, Alta Cal., June 16, 1852, yet quickly rivalled again in size any town in the county. Gilbert brothers were among the first settlers. Ophir was sustained by horticulture and quartz. In 1852 this was the largest place in the county, the vote being 500. Gold Hill, near by, was of secondary importance. See, further, under mining; Sac. Transcript, 1850–1; Placer Co. Directory, 1861, 9, 200, et seq.; Dutch Flat Enquirer, Oct. 9, 1862. Michigan Bluffs and Todd Valley were long prominent. The railroad built up a number of stations between Cisco and Rocklin, notably Colfax and Lincoln, the former aided by the narrow-gauge line to Nevada, and transferred from El Dorado the transit business with Washoe, and the emigrant route so long striven for in vain by Placer. In 1852 a road was constructed to Washoe Valley, from Yankee Jim's, for $13,000, but failed to secure traffic. Placer's larger area of tillable soil saved this county from sharing in the decadence of El Dorado, and its foothills became celebrated for their salubrity of climate and viticultural advantages. The population in 1860 was 13,270, and in 1880 14,200, the gains in the west balancing the eastern losses. Its total assessment ranged then at more than $5,774,000, of which $1,885,000 covered the value of 514 farms, with $618,000 in produce and $379,000 in live-stock.

Sacramento county, which occupied the fertile bottom below these two mining counties, benefited by their demand on traffic and productions. It stood prepared for both as the site of the key to the valley, the capital, which remained throughout the great entrepôt and the most promising manufacturing place. Sutter's efforts from 1839 in planting fields and originating different industries encouraged a number of others to follow his example, and to establish ranchos, at least along the great bay tributaries. Cal. Census, 1852, 8, 31-2. Of manufactures Sutter had before 1848 established tanneries, flour and saw mills, the latter not completed. There was a brick-yard as early as 1847 at Sutterville, and a grist-mill on the Cosumnes. The incipient industries at Sutter's Fort and on the Cosumnes, checked by the gold discovery, took shortly after firmer roots, and in 1850 two flour-mills opened at or near Sacramento, brick-making was resumed in 1849, machine-shops started the year after, and in 1851 a number of new and rival branches followed.

On the American main river lay three notable grants; on the Cosumnes Daylor and Sheldon had half a dozen assistants and neighbors; and on Dry Creek and the Mokelumne were several more settlers, all of them ready to welcome those who after 1849 prepared to retire from mining and join in agricultural pursuits so favorably begun. The county was accordingly credited already in 1850 with over 2,000 acres of improved land, live-stock valued at $115,000, and fully as much more in produce, namely, improved acres 2,044, with implements valued at $2,250; about 800 horses and mules, 7,000 cattle, and 2,000 sheep and swine; over 10,000 bushels of wheat and barley, and $41,000 worth of garden produce besides hay. U. S. Census, 1850, 976-8. By 1852 the live-stock had increased to a value of $300,000, and the agricultural products to over $1,000,000; of cereals there were over 180,000 bushels,

chiefly barley. Invested capital, $8,000,000. For these products the eastern border of the county provided early outlets in a number of mining camps; several shipping points for surrounding farms rose, as Freeport, built up by the Freeport R. R. Co., which proving a failure, reduced the town from 300 or 400 inhabitants to a mere handful. Then there were Courtland, Isleton, where later rose a beet-sugar factory, and Walnut Grove, the railroad reviving others, while adding to their number, as Arcade, Florine, Elk Grove, and Galt. Brighton, the site of Sutter's mill, moved later toward the railroad; Norristown, or Hoboken, a mile southward, the old site having a clouded title, Bauer's Stat., MS., 9-10, aspired after the Sac. disasters of 1852-3 to become its successor, but faded away like a dream; Folsom, founded in 1855 as the terminus of the Sac. Valley railroad, became a stage headquarters, and acquired a reputation for its granite quarries which promoted the establishment here of a branch prison. Granite was the first appropriate name entertained, but the influence prevailed of Capt. Folsom, who manipulated the Leidesdorff grant covering this point. This title had so far prevented earlier attempts, since 1852, to make available the water-power of the place. Folsom Telegraph, March 10, 1866; March 26, 1870, etc. This journal in itself illustrates the progress of the place. See also Sac. Union, Jan. 22, March 13, Apr. 4, 9, Oct. 31, 1856, etc.; S. F. Bulletin, Aug. 23, 1856; Alta Cal., Jan. 21, 1856.

The county early demonstrated the superiority of farming over mining as a wealth-producing pursuit, for within a few years the value of its farms alone surpassed the combined total assessments of the two adjoining mining counties, as did its population in number. The census of 1880 placed the population 34,390, with 1,100 farms valued at $12,330,000, with $2,488,000 in produce, and $2,240,000 in stock; total assessment, $18,416,000. See the section about Sacramento city for other information.

The rich bars of Yuba River filled the banks so rapidly with camps that the county of this name had to be further divided in April 1851 to form Nevada, of which Nevada City became the seat, as the most central of the prominent mining towns. Grass Valley, to the south, was then only about to open the quartz veins which soon lifted it to the most populous place in the county, and Rough and Ready, which lay too far westward, was already declining. This place was founded in the autumn of 1849 by the Rough and Ready Co., so named after Gen. Taylor, and headed by Capt. A. A. Townsend. The Randolph Co. soon joined. In Jan. 1850 Missionary J. Dunleavy brought his wife and opened a saloon. In Feb. H. Q. Roberts started the first regular store. By April a populous town had risen, which by Oct. polled nearly 1,000 votes, and claimed the leading place in the county. It had 3 or 4 compactly built streets, and about 4,000 or 6,000 tributary inhabitants, say the Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850, Cal. Courier, Dec. 25, 1850, and S. F. Picayune, Oct. 21, 1850. A vigilance committee was formed to govern the town, insure its safety, and promote the location here of the county seat. The drought of the winter 1850-1 proved a serious blow, and the town was almost deserted, but ditches being introduced, a decided revival took place. A fire of June 1853 destroyed twoscore buildings, valued at $60,000, Alta Cal., June